The Center for Arts and Wellness is an initiative that has been created
to deliver health education to our performing and visual arts students.
The College of Visual and Performing Arts at George Mason University,
which has given the Center a home, has made a commitment to providing
education on health, wellness, and performance enhancement as an integral
part of the education of our musicians, artists, dancers, and actors, whether
they go on to become performers or teachers.

For too long, performing artists have entered the profession with idealism
and high ambitions to fulfill themselves, only to find that they have also
entered a profession filled with stress, occupational hazards, and the
constant risk of overuse injuries. Musicians, as perhaps no others besides
dancers, invest immense amounts of time, energy, and money to achieve professional
levels of performance, only to experience, as so many have, the injuries,
stress burnout, and overwhelming stage fright that cut short promising
careers.

We believe that by incorporating health training as a required element
into our degree programs, we deliver the right message: health training
and stress immunization are not optional—not electives—but are integral
parts of a process that makes it possible for musicians to achieve and sustain their
highest levels of performance.